Tampa Bay has graduated a lot of talented young players over the past few seasons. Tampa had 20 players age 25 or younger play a game this past season, many in significant roles. They still have yet to graduate some of their most high-end players in left wing Jonathan Drouin and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, along with some more quality names in the system. The depth is obviously a much different story now than from their run of Calder Cup contending teams in the AHL, with most of their former top AHL players now NHL regulars.

Last season, Pronman pegged the Lightning at No. 1, a status that was reflected in the contributions up top of Tampa Bay rookies Richard Panik, Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Radko Gudas.

Overall, Tampa Bay played 10 rookies with fewer than 100 NHL games last season and scored a league-high 142 points from rookies.

This season, Pronman put Buffalo at No. 1 followed by Tampa Bay, the New York Islanders, Nashville and Florida.